Deepika Kumari, the world's number one archer, held her nerve to beat former world champion Ksenia Perova of the Russian Olympic Committee in a thrilling one-arrow shoot-off to advance to the Olympic Games' women's individual quarterfinals today.
Locked at 5-5 after the regulation five-setter, the 27-year-old Indian delivered a perfect 10, hitting the target, to defeat the Russian, a team silver medalist at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
The Russian faltered early in the one-arrow shoot-off, misfiring a 7, while a composed Deepika easily won the match 6-5 (10-7) with no fuss.
“Now it’s going to be tougher and tougher ahead,” said Deepika, who is chasing the country’s first ever Olympic medal in archery.
“I’ve to fight and shoot better. I hope to do better in the next round. Right now, I need extra focus.
“I can’t win if I’m nervous. I’m trying my best to regain my touch as quickly as possible,” Deepika said of her nervy outing against the Russian.
“I’m really nervous. Yes, I started off well but it was all about Olympic pressure. It really became difficult (afterwards) to find the yellow-ring (that gives scores of either 9 or 10).”
Deepika got off to a fast start and raced to a 2-0 lead, drilling a perfect 10 in her second arrow as the experienced Russian faltered with a 7 in the final arrow, losing the set by three points (28-25).
Up 19-17 after two arrows in the second set, the Indian needed a 9 to take a 4-0 lead but only managed a 7 as the Russian took control by one point (26-27) with a 10.
From there, it was tight shooting from both archers, with Deepika winning by a single arrow (28-27) thanks to a 10 in her first arrow.
Deepika missed a ten in the fourth set, as both players hit identical 9-8-9s to send the match to the fifth set, with the Indian leading 5-3 in the driver's set.
